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Ringo and Ben Harper to Play Secret Show (Jambands.com)

As previously reported, Ben Harper is among the special guests slated to appear on Ringo Starr?s new studio album Y Not . Harper and his band Relentless7 will also perform with Starr this week.

Posted on January 12, 2010, 12:36 pm

Pencil This In: Zócalo Celebrates Gourmet Magazine, the Monthly MOTH and NewFilmmakers LA Screening (LAist)

Goodbye, Gourmet STORIES The Moth LA holds its monthly Eastside edition tonight at El Cid. With the theme ?neighborhood,? storytellers are asked to prepare a five-minute story. Reading from notes is not allowed. Hosted by Brian Finklestein, doors open at 6 pm and stories begin at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $7 at the door. ART TALK LACMA holds the panel discussion Conversations on Experimental Film in ...

Posted on January 19, 2010, 2:31 pm

Late Show Roundup 1/19/10 - The Cribs Rock Fallon, Ringo Starr Stops by Leno (MOG)

Late night shows way past your bedtime? No problem! Every morning, we've got you covered with videos of the night's best performances. Be sure to check back daily! Looks like late night had a case of the Mondays... not that we can't sympathize, but after Friday and Saturday's blow out, things can feel a little underwhelming. To top it all off, our most anticipated performance of the night is ...

Posted on January 19, 2010, 9:31 am

1/19: Ringo Starr (NBC Los Angeles)

Plus: The Hot Rats. And: Nellie Oleson

Posted on January 19, 2010, 1:20 am

Dually noted: Should students be considered customers? (Arizona Daily Wildcat)

Should universities view students as customers? An article in the Chicago Tribune has raised the question once again, following the resignation of Dean Ted Snyder from the University of Chicago?s Booth School of Business.

Posted on January 18, 2010, 11:27 pm

TV highlights for January 18, 2009 (Washington Post)

On a two-hour "Larry King Live" (CNN at 8), King hosts "Haiti: How You Can Help," with Campbell Brown reporting news updates and experts explaining how people can respond to the crisis. Guests include Colin Powell and celebrities such as Ashley Judd, Ben Stiller and Christian Slater.

Posted on January 17, 2010, 10:00 pm

Win Tickets: Ringo Starr & Ben Harper Secret Show (NBC New York)

Enter the lottery for a ticket to this cozy, under-the-radar Thursday show

Posted on January 13, 2010, 10:55 am

Popular business directory searches (The Fayette Tribune)

MONTGOMERY ? The WVU Tech Golden Bear wrestlers took to the mat against visiting Penn State-Dubois Friday, Jan. 8 in their only home match of the season.

Posted on January 18, 2010, 10:12 am

Ringo Starr turning 70: Fab drummer talks about life, music (USA Today)

Sixty-four was yesterday. The age bearing down on Beatledom this year is 70. Boomers may wince, but Ringo the eldest hits that milestone on July 7

Posted on January 15, 2010, 12:25 pm

Ringo Starr on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 1/12 (Videos) (MOG)

Ringo Starr was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night. Ringo with Ben Harper and Relentless7 as his backup band performed "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Walk With You", "The Other Side of Liverpool", and "With A Little Help From My Friends" (with Fallon!). Ringo also sat down for ...

Posted on January 13, 2010, 12:41 pm

Ben Harper Biography

Ben Harper
extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Ben Harper

Harper at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, July 15, 2003
Background information
Birth name Benjamin Chase Harper
Born October 28, 1969 (1969-10-28) (age 40)
Claremont, California,
USA
Genres Alternative rock
Folk rock
Blues-rock
Gospel
Reggae
Occupations Musician, Singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals, Guitar, keyboards, Piano, Bass, Drums, percussion
Years active 1992 — present
Labels Virgin, EMI Records
Associated acts Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama
Relentless7
Vanessa da Mata
Ringo Starr
Website benharper.net

Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter musician and two-time Grammy Award winner, known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism.

Contents

Early life

Harper was born in Claremont, in California's Inland Empire. His father, Leonard, was of African-American and Cherokee ancestry, and his mother, Ellen Chase-Verdries, is Jewish. His maternal great-grandmother immigrated from Lithuania.123 His parents divorced when he was five, and he grew up with his mother's family. Harper has two brothers, Joel and Peter.

Harper began playing guitar as a child.4 His maternal grandparents' music store The Folk Music Center and Museum laid a foundation of folk and blues for the artist, complemented by regular patrons Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal and David Lindley and quotes of William Shakespeare and Robert Frost made often by his grandfather.5 During the '80s, in his teen years, Harper began to play the slide guitar, mimicking the style of Robert Johnson. Next, Harper refined his style, taking up the Weissenborn.6 Harper broke out of the Inland Empire after being offered an invitation by Taj Mahal to tour with the artist. The 20 year-old Harper and the blues legend then recorded Follow the Drinking Ghour(d) and toured Hawaii.7

Career

As a young man, Harper recorded the LP Pleasure and Pain with Folk multi-instrumentalist Tom Freund. After this limited edition record, Harper secured a record deal with Virgin Records, which released his debut album, Welcome to the Cruel World (1994).

This was followed by Fight For Your Mind (1995), which became a college radio favorite and generated an abundance of songs that still fill his set lists to date.

In 1999 at the Santa Barbara Bowl, Harper met Jack Johnson, who was unknown at the time and had not recorded. Harper obtained a demo tape of 12 of Johnson's songs that he forwarded to his producer, J.P. Plunier, with whom Johnson recorded his first album.8

Harper at Massey Hall, Toronto, ON

From early on in Harper's career, his music received more attention in Europe and was widely played in Australia (first aired on Triple J radio) giving massive exposure even more than it did in his home country. Harper has made comments on a number of occasions that his career was kicked off in Australia. While he was a well-known and respected figure in the United States (his musicianship put him on the lineup of featured singers covering Motown hits by Marvin Gaye on the classic 2002 documentary, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," the story of the Funk Brothers) he was a star in countries like Australia, New Zealand, France, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, receiving a great deal of airplay and critical acclaim. His popularity in Europe is such that he was French Rolling Stone magazine's Artist of the Year (Artiste De L'Année) in 2003, and his tour that year for Diamonds on the Inside with the music video filmed in Australia and played to packed arenas across the continent.

In October 2004, Harper participated in the Vote for Change concert tour organized to benefit Moveon.org and encourage people in the swing states to vote during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Also in October, Harper contributed a live recording of the song "Oppression" to For The Lady, a benefit album for jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner and Burmese pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Over the summer of 2005, when the Zooma tour scheduled with Trey Anastasio and various side stage performers was canceled, Harper engaged in a tour of more private clubs/venues such as the Avalon Ballroom in Boston, the Tabernacle in Atlanta, and a full-band acoustic performance at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. This series of concerts saw the debut of a number of new songs, such as "Get It Like You Like It" and "Why Must You Always Dress in Black."

In 2006, Harper released the double album Both Sides of the Gun which debuted at #7 on the Billboard charts.

Harper finished a worldwide tour in support of the album in 2006, with support from Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley on the North American leg.

Though uncredited, he appears briefly in the 2006 David Lynch film Inland Empire, alongside his wife Laura Dern.

Harper and the Innocent Criminals recorded a new album, Lifeline, in Paris. It was released in 2007. He also covered John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy" on the benefit CD Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.

Harper's collaboration "Boa Sorte/Good Luck" with Brazilian singer Vanessa da Mata peaked at #1 in Brazil and Portugal. In Brazil it also won a highly coveted PrĂŞmio Multishow for "Best Song" in 2008.

Harper is part of the No Nukes group which is against the expansion of nuclear power. In 2007 the group recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth".910

Harper formed a new band in 2008, Relentless7, with Texas-based musicians Jason Mozersky (guitar), Jesse Ingalls (bass) and Jordan Richardson (drums). The album White Lies for Dark Times, credited to Ben Harper and Relentless7, was released on May 4, 2009. On July 12 2009, the band performed the closing concert of the 30th Montreal International Jazz Fest.

On January 13, 2010, Harper and Relentless7 appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart together with Ringo Starr to perform "Walk With You" and "With a Little Help from My Friends".11

On January 22, 2010, Harper appeared on the last episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien with Beck and Billy Gibbons playing a Will Ferrell-led rendition of "Freebird". 12

Personal life

Harper with wife Laura Dern in December 2009

From 1996 to 2001, Harper was married to Joanna Dern. They have two children, son Charles Joseph and daughter Harris.

On December 23, 2005 Harper married his girlfriend of five years, actress Laura Dern. They have two children together, son Ellery Walker Harper (b. August 21, 2001) and daughter Jaya (b. November 24, 2004).

Harper was close friends with Heath Ledger. Ledger called Harper and said "Ben, I'm having a baby and you need to write a lullaby for my baby girl". Upon Ledger's request, Harper wrote the song "Happy Ever After In Your Eyes" as a lullaby for Heath's daughter, Matilda Rose.

Charity

In 2008 he participated in a music album called Songs for Tibet, which is an initiative to support Tibet, Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso and to underline the human rights situation in Tibet. The album was issued on August 5 via iTunes and on August 19 in music stores around the world.13

Awards and nominations

Year Award Show Award/Nomination
2003 Rolling Stone (France) Artist of the Year
2005 Grammy Award Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
2005 Grammy Award Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album

Certifications

Year Album Certification
1995 Fight for Your Mind RIAA: Gold
1999 Burn to Shine RIAA: Gold
2001 Live from Mars RIAA: Gold
Splitsection.svg
It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article titled Ben Harper discography. (Discuss)

Discography

Albums

Album information
Pleasure and Pain
  • Released: 1992
Welcome to the Cruel World
  • Released: February 8, 1994
Fight for Your Mind
The Will to Live
  • Released: June 17, 1997
  • Billboard 200 #89, 1997
  • ARIA Albums Chart #17
Burn to Shine
  • Released: September 21, 1999
  • Billboard 200 #67, 1999
  • ARIA Albums Chart #2
  • RIAA certification: Gold
Live from Mars
  • Released: 2001
  • ARIA Albums Chart #2
  • RIAA certification: Gold
Diamonds on the Inside
There Will Be a Light
  • Released: September 21, 2004
  • Billboard 200 #81, 2004
  • Top Gospel Albums #1, 2004
  • Top Internet Albums #113, 2004
  • ARIA Albums Chart #6
Live at the Apollo
  • Released: March 14, 2005
  • RIAA certification: Gold
Both Sides of the Gun
  • Released: March 21, 2006
  • Billboard 200 #7, 2006
  • ARIA Albums Chart #1
Lifeline
  • Released: August 28, 2007
  • Billboard 200 #9
  • European Top Albums #6
  • ARIA Albums Chart #7
Live at Twist & Shout
  • Released: December 4, 2007
White Lies for Dark Times
  • Released: May 5, 2009
  • Billboard 200 #9
  • ARIA Albums Chart #17

Virtual albums

Singles

Special appearances

Harper played a slide guitar version of the "Star-Spangled Banner" prior to Game 3 of the 2007 NBA Finals on June 12 in Cleveland.

He can also be seen playing a slide guitar in the video for the song "Flake" by Jack Johnson.

Harper performed alongside Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and John Paul Jones at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2007. The jam session included songs by Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers, and several Led Zeppelin hits.

Harper performed a cover of "Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles for the soundtrack of the film I Am Sam.

He also appears on the 2003 Pearl Jam DVD Live at the Garden where Harper plays alongside friends Pearl Jam for the songs "Daughter" & "Indifference".

Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals performed a cover of The Beatles' "Michelle" on the 2005 album This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul.

Harper also performed at several "Vote Obama" rallies, including one at University of Colorado at Boulder.

Harper performed on the Willie Nelson show Outlaws & Angels.

Harper teamed with the Skatalites to perform Fats Domino's "Be My Guest" on Goin' Home: A Tribute To Fats Domino.

Harper is featured in the iPhone / iPod touch Application "Tap Tap Revenge 2" with his singles "Steal my Kisses" and "Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart)."

Harper performed a cover of "My Father's House" by Bruce Springsteen for the album Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen.

Harper was featured, alongside Jack Johnson, playing slide guitar with Toots and the Maytals, performing their 1970s reggae hit "Pressure Drop" on Saturday Night Live.

Harper helped Conan O'Brien end his tenure on The Tonight Show by playing slide guitar on "Free Bird".

In January 2010, Harper and his band the Relentless 7 performed at the Grammy Museum with Ringo Starr in support of the Beatles drummer's self-produced album, Y Not. 15

DVDs

References

External links